Complex Systems 535/Physics 508, Fall 2017: Network Theory

Description:

This course will introduce and develop the mathematical theory of networks, particularly social and technological networks, with applications to network-driven phenomena in the Internet, search engines, network resilience, epidemiology, and many other areas.

Topics to be covered will include experimental studies of social networks, the world wide web, information and biological networks; methods and computer algorithms for the analysis and interpretation of network data; graph theory; models of networks including random graphs and preferential attachment models; community structure; percolation theory; network search.

Requirements

Students should have studied calculus and linear algebra before taking the course, and should in particular be comfortable with the solution of linear differential equations and with the calculation and properties of eigenvalues and eigenvectors of matrices. In addition, a moderate portion of the course, perhaps two weeks, will deal with computer methods for analyzing networks. Some experience with computer programming will be a great help in understanding this part of the course.

Coursework

There will be weekly graded problem sets, consisting of questions on both theory and applications. There will be three midterm exams but no final. The midterms will be in class at the usual time on October 19, November 16, and December 12.

There will be reading assignments for each lecture. The assignments are listed on the schedule below. Students are expected to do the reading for each lecture in a timely manner.

Course packs and books

Course packs (required): There is no textbook for this course but there will be two course packs, which will be available from Dollar Bill Copying on Church Street. The first course pack will cover the first part of the semester up to the first midterm exam; the second course pack will cover the remainder of the semester.

In addition to the course packs, a list of other useful books is given below. None of them is required, but you may find them useful if you want a second opinion or more detail on certain topics.

General books on networks:

Networks: An Introduction, M. E. J. Newman, Oxford University
Press, Oxford (2010). Written by your instructor, this book covers most of the material in the course, but is somewhat out of date in this fast-moving field. The course pack is more up-to-date.

Complex Networks: Structure, Robustness and Function, Reuven Cohen and Shlomo Havlin, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge (2010). Quite a short book, but it covers most of the topics of the course, at least to some extent, and some others that are not in the book by Newman.

Lectures on Complex Networks, S. N. Dorogovtsev, Oxford University Press, Oxford (2010). Very short – genuinely a set of lecture notes, rather than a full text.

Network Science, A.-L. Barabasi, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge (2016). An undergraduate-level text on networks, this book is at a more elementary level than the course, but gives a nice introduction to some of the topics. It is available for free on the internet here.